During the Spring 2012 I taught one of many interdisciplinary undergraduate seminars in the Experimental Study Group at MIT. Each class is based on the preparation of a simple delicious dish and on the bite-sized acquisition of parts of the Italian language and culture.
Videography by Graham Gordon Ramsay.

Click here to watch the videos in full resolution.
Buon divertimento!


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Monday, May 21, 2012

Tagliatelle ai funghi

For the complete video of this class click here.

FUNGHI TRIFOLATI (= cooked with garlic and parsley):

Ingredienti:

- dried porcini or your  favorite fresh funghi (mushrooms)
   If you are making pasta for 4 people, use about 1 lb of fresh
   mushrooms or 0.2 lb of dry mushrooms
- aglio (garlic), as much or as little as you want
- prezzemolo fresco (fresh Italian parsley)
- panna da cucina (the closest ingredient I found in the US is heavy cream), as much or as little as you want  (you can use none)
- olio extravergine d'oliva, sale, pepe (pepper)

Procedimento:

- If you use dry mushrooms, soak them in warm water for about 1 hr.
  If you use fresh mushrooms wash them and cut them in medium/small pieces.
- Make a soffritto (sweat) with garlic (whole cloves, easy to remove, or chopped) in olive oil
- aggiungi (add) i funghi e mescola (and mix). If you use dry mushrooms, you can add part of
 the water in which you soaked them
- When the mushrooms are cooked (it takes 5-10 minutes), lower the heat to minimum, add heavy cream, salt, pepper and the parsley leaves (washed and finely chopped)
- Remove from the heat: i funghi sono pronti! Serve them mixed with your tagliatelle or
 as a side dish (contorno)! If you want, top with your favorite grated cheese.

PASTA FRESCA: LE TAGLIATELLE 

Ingredienti per 4 persone:


- 400 g =0.9 lb, a little more than 3 cups di farina (of flour - all purpose)
- 4 uova grandi (large eggs)
- un pizzico di sale (a pinch of salt)
- if needed to hold the dough together, due cucchiai di acqua tiepida (two spoons of warm water)

 Procedimento:

- Place the flour on the counter or in una ciotola (a bowl), make a well in the center, put the eggs in the well and mix with your fingers or con l'aiuto (with the help) di una forchetta (of a fork).  




- Impasta (knead) thoroughly: the dough is very hard to knead but you want it to become smooth. 


If you prefer you can use un robot da cucina (a food processor).
- Let the dough rest for about 1 hr (wrapped in plastic film). If you are
 impatient, you can skip this step. 
- Flatten the dough using a pasta machine or a rolling pin.
If you use a pasta machine, lightly dust it and the dough with flour each time you run the pasta through it. Start from the widest setting and switch to the narrower until you reach the desired thickness.
If you use the rolling pin, be sure to dust it and the counter with flour; flatten down to a thickness on about half a mm. Essentially as thin as you can. 
- Cut the pasta in your favorite shape. Tagliatelle are about 5-7 mm (0.2/0.3") wide, pappardelle are wider (1.5-2 cm) 

Look here for some ideas  
http://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Pasta-fresca-all-uovo.html

 Commenti e variazioni:

- You can save the scrap pieces of irregular shape: they even have a name maltagliati (badly cut).
- Cook your pasta in boiling salty water for 3-5 minutes
- If you made too much, freeze it before you cook it. In that case do not let it thaw before cooking it.
- You can make pasta with less or senza uova  (without eggs): in this case use only warm water.